TYRONE - No male golfer had ever won the Greater Altoona championship more than two times, until Artie Fink started playing that is. The lone golfer to shoot under par both Saturday and Sunday, Fink took home individual honors for the sixth time in 12 years.
Michelle Day, representing Scotch Valley Country Club, beat the women's field by three strokes to win the individual title for the second time in three years.
Fink, playing on the Sinking Valley Country Club team, shot the lone sub-par round in the wind and rain Saturday, a 2-under 70 at Scotch Valley. Sunday, he put together a 1-under 71 at Sinking Valley for a two-day score of 141. Teammate Ben DelBaggio III shot the only other sub-par round of the tournament, a 1-under 71 Sunday.
Article Photos
Photos for the Mirror by Ken Love
Sinking Valley won the Greater Altoona men’s team title. Team members include (from left)—Chris Perry, Leonard DelBaggio, Ben DelBaggio III and Artie Fink Jr., who was also the individual champion.
"It was bearable," Fink said of Saturday's round. "For as much rain as we got, the course held up very well. I started in the rain and finished in the rain. Sometimes I enjoy that. Some guys would rather not be out there."
Fink found himself back in his rain suit on the first hole Sunday after putting his tee shot in a nearby creek.
"I got off to a horrible start. I finally had it dried out from Saturday and had to put it right back on," he said. "I made the turn minus-1, knew I had an eight to 10 shot lead and just concentrated on keeping the ball in the middle of the greens and making pars."
DelBaggio, who won the individual title each of the last two years, finished eight strokes back of Fink with a 149. Park Hills' Todd Homan 152 was good enough for third place.
Day shot a 79 Saturday for a four-stroke lead over last year's winner, Summit Country Club's Anita Jo Petrusky, and five shots ahead of Suz Price heading into Sunday. She held on for the win with an 85 Sunday for a two-day 164.
"I was more focused and much more consistent," Day said of her round Saturday. "I missed a lot greens [Sunday]. I hit the driver very, very well, but the 9-iron and wedge gave me a lot of trouble."
Petrusky finished second three shots back, and Price, representing Sinking Valley, came in third five shots off the pace.
The Sinking Valley men and Summit women won the team titles.
The Sinking Valley team, comprised of Fink, Ben DelBaggio III, Chris Perry and Leonard DelBaggio, beat runner-up Scotch Valley by 23 strokes, 467-444.
"We have a great group of guys. There are a lot of good players at this club," Fink said. "We're all very competitive, but at the same time, we'll help each other with our game whenever we can."
The women representing the Summit-Petrusky, Louann Dividock, Kate Conway and Jessica Kline-finished seven strokes ahead of the Iron Masters foursome for the win, 523-530. The teams from the Summit, Iron Masters and Scotch Valley entered Sunday's play separated by just five strokes.
Men's results: Fink (SiV) 70-71-141; B. DelBaggio III (SiV) 78-71-149; Homan (PH) 76-76-152; DeGol Jr. (ScV) 78-77-155; Krug (Sum) 78-77-155; Kirsch (PH) 77-78-155; Link (Sum) 80-76-156; Smith (Sum) 80-78-158; DeGol (ScV) 81-77-158; Hall (ScV) 85-75-160; Miller (IM) 80-80-160; Clapper (IM) 80-80-160; L. DelBaggio (SiV) 85-76-161; Perry (SiV) 78-84-162; Love (IM) 81-83-164; Auker (PH) 82-83-165; Holtz (Sum) 84-82-166; Chamberlain (ScV) 78-87-166; Elder (IM) 87-85-172; Danner (PH) 87-88-175.
Women's results: Day (ScV) 79-85-164; Petrusky (Sum) 83-84-167; Price (SiV) 84-85-169; Paden (IM) 86-84-170; Conway (Sum) 89-86-175; Dodson (IM) 90-90-180; Long (IM) 86-94-180; Dividock (Sum) 93-89-182; Sisto (ScV) 97-88-185; Magee (ScV) 92-95-187; Showalter (IM) 91-98-189; Kline (Sum) 103-88-191; Myers (SiV) 96-97-193; Moore (PH) 96-98-194; Grove (PH) 99-98-197; Schraff (ScV) 96-109-205; Buchanan (SiV) 110-97-207; Maier (SiV) 108-105-213; Trimarco (PH) 130-88-218; White (PH) 130-103-233.
Men's team results: Sinking Valley 226-218-444; Scotch Valley 236-231-467; Summit 238-231-469; Park Hills 236-237-472; Iron Masters 241-243-484.
Women's team results: Summit 265-258-523; Iron Masters 262-268-530; Sinking Valley 288-279-567; Park Hills 290-284-574; Scotch Valley 267-268-575.
